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On Writing Podcasts & What I’m Listening To

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In a world increasing overtaken by technology, you may be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t listen to podcasts these days. I like to describe podcasts as talk radio, but in an episodic format. Topics vary, of course, and if you’ve avoided podcasts by using the excuse that there’s nothing that’ll interest you, you’re likely wrong.

I know firsthand. I’ve always been a pretty big fan of NPR, but when it came to podcasts, I just assumed that they’d be about tech or other things I didn’t really have a huge interest in. Boy, was I wrong.

I downloaded the app called PocketCasts (for iOS, download here; for Android, download here) and that’s when the magic began. PocketCasts has a beautiful built “Discover” option, where you can browse trending podcasts or search for what you’d like. Naturally, I searched “writing,” thinking there’d maybe be a handful of likely mediocre options that wouldn’t be what I wanted.

Wrong again.

The results list for “writing” seemed to go on for, well, ever. I subscribed to any and everything I thought could be even remotely helpful or interesting. After listening to a few episodes of each, I came up with some real gems (in my opinion, of course).

My Favorite Writing Podcasts

1.) Write For Your Life

Link:http://5by5.tv/wfylHosts: Iain Broome and Donna SorensonDescription: Write for Your Life is a show about creative writing, copywriting, reading, and the ever-changing publishing industry. Look out for advice, opinions, nonsense and some very special guests.

2.) This Creative Life

Link: http://www.sarazarr.com/blog-podcastsHost: Sara ZarrDescription: Author Sara Zarr in conversation with writers, visual artists, musicians, filmmakers and more, with a focus on the practical and psychological aspects of creativity and the creative process.

3.) Nerdist Writer’s Panel

Link: http://www.nerdist.com/podcast_channel/nerdist-writers-panel-channel/Host: Ben BlackerDescription: The Nerdist Writers Panel series is an informal chat moderated by Ben Blacker (co-creator of the Thrilling Adventure Hour; writer for Supah Ninjas, Supernatural, among others) with professional writers about the process and business of writing. Covering TV, film, comic books, music, novels, and any other kind of writing about which you’d care to hear.

4.) Dead Robot’s Society

Link: http://deadrobotssociety.com/category/01/Hosts: Justin Macumber, Terry Mixon, and Scott Roche, and Paul E. CooleyDescription: Episodes typically feature the three hosts discussing a specific writing related topic and their current progress with their own projects over the course of an hour or more. Guests are often welcomed to promote upcoming works or to join the discussion when they are addressing more specialized topics.

Thoughts…

While all four of these podcasts bring various perspectives to the writing table, I’ve learned something from all of them, and I hope I continue to in the future. I recommend all of them.

The world needs more writing podcasts. Seriously. I may have to look into starting one in the future.